This is book is the first in a series (that I hope to eventually continue if I find the time!) that tells the story of young Dr. Barry Laverty coming to the small Northern Ireland village of Ballybucklebo to become the assistant to the current general practitioner there... Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly. O'Reilly is quite the character and certainly has his own way of doing things! So much so that Barry often wonders whether or not this is the life for him. I loved all the humor in the book and the wily ways O'Reilly managed to get the upper hand with some of his more difficult patients. O'Reilly has a soft heart under his cantankerous exterior which further endeared him to me. I loved the way that many of the various patients (and their unique issues) got tied together and pretty much sorted out by the end of the novel. Yet you are left wondering what is next for Laverty and his mentor O'Reilly and the residents of Ballybucklebo and want more of their stories.
If I had of given myself more time I may have made something more specific to the details of the story, but instead I made something that reminded me of the feeling and beauty of Ireland. I had a great enameled copper pendant in my stash from a local artist, Becka Beads, that has a mix of shiny copper and swirly greens, white and black that sort of looks like a landscape. I started by pulling a bunch of different green beads that would help accentuate the green notes in the pendant and speak to the lush Irish countryside as I remember it from my two trips there. There is Czech glass, dyed agate, yellow "turquoise" (according to Fire Mountain Gems), shell pearl, and dragon's blood jasper.
This design is similar to, and inspired by a piece I did last year for the Vintaj Misty Morning challenge. You can see that one HERE. My husband was sad when I sold that one so I'd been meaning to do something similar for myself. (I'm not sure if I'll keep this one or not yet though.) ANYWAY, I thought that the idea of using the Vintaj copper ivy vine made sense... it made me think of ivy covered cottages nestled into the green, green countryside. I wire wrapped a bail for it with a little dragon's blood jasper round like in my original design and then starting making my other wire links for the one side.
Inspired by my Bead Cruise class with Erin Siegel (and the purchase of the lovely book she did with Lorelei Eurto, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry) I decided to do something new to me and do some knotting with Irish waxed linen. I like the earthy, organic feel that it gives the piece.
This is a blog hop. Please take some time to check out what everyone else created this month!
Sarajo Wentling (that's me!)
Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, Terri Greenawalt, and Alison Herrington
This piece is really lovely. The pendant is gorgeous! The green, the ivy, the linen section really all do evoke the feeling of the book. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing! And am even more amazed that you have already started creating after being back from the cruise. I have not even managed to put up pictures yet...need to learn organization skills from you!!
ReplyDeleteYour work with Irish waxed linen is perfect, it flows nicely with the other aspects of the piece! The necklace really does remind me of the book. I think we all had a really fun time with this book.
ReplyDeleteLove this piece!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic piece! I think you have captured the Irish countryside beautifully in this piece! I love all the textures and shades of green. The ivy is a perfect compliment! Nicely done! And thank you so much for participating! (I liked the book too and will hopefully read more of the books down the road.)
ReplyDeleteThis is an AMAZING piece! I love the focal pendant! Your combination of beads, findings, chain and techniques is really, really nice! Not to mention, I think you captured the feel of the Irish countryside quite well!
ReplyDeleteRachel